10 Signs You Should Invest in Social Innovation Software

If your organisation is passionate about innovation and creativity, you’ve heard about using an innovation tool. But is using a social innovation software going to help you meet your needs? Or just be another product or website that never gets utilised by your team? Social innovation software can help you structure, select, and test your projects. But it is not right for every organisation or every project. Here are 10 signs that you should invest in social innovation software:

1. You’re currently using email and note taking to get the job done. - Does your project feel like it’s encased in your head? Like just one more email or comment could knock some of those great ideas out of your memory? Or do you spend your time searching through old emails and notes trying to find old thoughts and ideas? This is a sign you need a better organisational system. A central place where all your data and ideas can be stored, viewed, and reviewed.

2. You don’t want to limit creativity to a specific time or place. - Do you want your team to keep coming up with new ideas outside of meetings? When they’re sitting at their desk? Out on a lunch break? At home spending time on a hobby? Great ideas can come at any time. If you find that there is no way to keep the momentum rolling outside of your brainstorm sessions, social innovation software can help you carry the momentum to any time or place.

3. You want your team to know their ideas are being seen. - An open innovation software lets everyone comment, vote and view the progress of ideas. If one person in your organisation is managing all this themselves this is not the case. Innovation software lets you give credit to your team for their contributions.

4. Your team is spread out.- Do you have remote workers or many locations of your organisation? Or are you working with a team made up of individuals from different enterprises? Or maybe it’s just hard to get everyone in the room at the same time. If it’s going to be difficult to talk in person, you want a solution that is better than email for undertaking an innovation project. Social innovation software allows your team to democratise the process.

5. Your community is spread out.- Are you trying to reach a wider community with your project? Are they spread out across the country or the globe? Even if they are in the same city, how easy is it to get everyone in a room together? If you are serious about getting outside voices for your initiative, you need an effective way to include them in the process. The right social innovation tool can help you do that.

6. Sustainability is important to you.- This is a project or campaign that you want to survive the test of time. This means after emails get deleted and notes are lost and meetings are over. Innovation software helps you keep your ideas on track and organised. After the brainstorming stage, it is easy to move ideas through development and testing while keeping everything documented in one place.

7. You have limited resources so you want to do it right.- You don’t have the resources to aimlessly try new ideas and see if they work. You want to make sure that you fully develop the idea, run it through a testing phase, and allocate the right amount of resources to the project. Social innovation software helps you plan your process and utilise your resources.

8. You want to foster a culture of continuous growth.- If you invest in a product, you are more likely to invest time into your project. If creating innovative services and products is important to the core of your organisation, you want to have the right tools to help you maintain it. It’s no fun to be struggling with planning and organisation when you’re trying to come up with great new ideas. The right social innovation software will help you define your process before you get started. It can be an integral way to store data and re-visit different projects, ideas, and themes.

9. Transparency is important to you.- Is one of your organisational values transparency? Using a platform where all users can see the submissions allows the open innovation process to be transparent. Further, instead of a select committee deciding on a winning idea or project, the community that will enjoy the service can vote for themselves. This is a great way to democratise the creation of projects and services that will be helping your community.

10. You’re serious about seeing change happen.- Are you ready to introduce innovation into your organisation? A social innovation tool costs money, time to research and set up, and sometimes includes consulting and advising from top innovation experts. Unless you’re ready to get serious about social innovation, it’s probably not the best time to introduce a new tool to your team. If your team is ready and committed to social innovation, the right tool can make your project a success.

Does this sound like you? Why not head over to our free trial and see what your team can do with the right tool? Embarking on new projects and paths for your organisation can be both exciting and overwhelming! If these 10 signs resonate with you, it may be time to invest in a tool to help you reach your goals.